The other day I was watching Arte and there was a promo for an upcoming documentary called "La face cachée des fesses". A documentary about bums you say? Couldn't be anything but interesting I figured.
Seeing as how I'm part of the new generation of young people who don't make 'appointments' with their TV to watch a show at a particular time, I figured I'd just watch the documentary on Arte +7. Arte has two online offers: +7 ("catch up" TV) which allows you to see something for free for one week after it was aired, and Arte VOD, which is video on demand you pay for; shows range from 1€ to 3,99€ from what I've seen. Don't bother with VOD if you have a Mac or use Linux because their streaming service only works on Windows (their solution is to order the show on DVD for the same price).
So this evening I sat down in front of my computer, ready to watch the documentary on gluteus maximus, when I got this message:
"Ce vidéo ne peut être visionné qu'entre 23h et 5h"
Violent and sexual TV shows can't be aired during prime time, but this is a documentary, looking at bums in art work and sculpture and things like that. I checked again: déconseillé aux -18. Apparently Arte is more risqué than I thought.
"How dumb!" I thought. "Arte thinks there's a 'prime time' for the internet!" Looking around on their website though, I learned that it's the CSA that forces them to restrict access to shows on the catch up service.
"Ah ha! It's the CSA again!" If you don't know what the CSA is, it's like the FCC in the States. The CSA is the one who regulates how many ads can be played each our, they tabulate whether or not stations are airing the minimum quotas of French and European produced material, and other communications rules. Like the FCC, the CSA can declare some pretty dumb rules.
Don't bother going to the CSA website to find more information: I think monkeys designed it. But wanting to know more about this ridiculous rule limiting when you can watch a streaming video online, I found this article.
And actually, the CSA doesn't have much to do with it. A European directive says that countries must ensure that tv shows liable to corrupt our youth must not be made available before their bed time. The article explains that in the future, anything rated 18+ shouldn't be available for free online in a catch up service, it should always be charged.
I'd like to be mad at Arte, or at least the CSA, for making it hard for me to see a racy documentary on bums. But no, it's nameless and faceless European parliamentary members I should be mad at.
I don't know if the parallel is a good one, but it seems to me like they're trying to make a rule that you can only read the Marquis de Sade after 11pm, or make sexual innuendos until prime time is over. I don't think kids should be watching horror movies or Californication, but this rule seems like trying to forbid older brothers and sisters from telling their younger siblings Santa Claus isn't real: dumb, ineffective, and a waste of time.
In the end, B just downloaded it for me from a bit torrent website. Problem solved.
4 comments:
They ran that documentary last year too and I caught it on tv. I loved it!
And shows like True Blood which are riddled with nudity and sex come on at 8pm on basic cable.. weird double standards.
Now I'm super curious and have to watch it! I wonder if they have the same rule in the states for online streaming?
I saw the first 2 minutes and it seems good, though very French in the "Les fesses representent la terre, la mer, le ciel et l'humain" kind of way. The beginning has a discussion on the difference between 'fesses' and 'ass' as well, saying that the English word doesn't encompass the idea of a shapely bottom. Now I just have to watch the rest!
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